Why are they still afloat? Last time I checked you couldn't find any work there:
- You could only find jobs if you were ready to underbid everyone else.
- The disproportion between the amount of work and job-seekers was abysmal.
- The platform did nothing to protect the workers from untruthful or exploitative clients (from anecdotal evidence).
- Upwork attracts clients who can't find contractors any other way, mostly because of unrealistic compensation expectation, unreasonable requirements, or poor reputation. This leads to the average job being an underwhelming experience (to put it in generous terms).
Moreover, being on Upwork is a sign of desperation. You fear the day any of your regular clients notices and asks why are you there or just starts to doubt you.
The proposition of the service is very attractive, but I'm not sure if it brings more value than harm in practice. It's very hard to find clients nowadays, but I'm still fighting the urge to restore my account there.
> Upwork attracts clients who can't find contractors any other way
What is the best 'other way', though? Situation: Technical guy at a small company or nonprofit who needs _X_ more complicated technical task done. The choice is either to learn some new skill (lots of time) or find an expert. What other expert marketplaces are there that offer a substantially better environment or experience for all parties?
Ask around. I'm sure there are some technical people in your extended circle that you may not have considered. Also, there are tons of tech job boards out there. Many many years ago, I was a contractor on upwork, but my last foray with them was as a client.
For the tasks I needed done, it worked well enough (translation mostly). However, I wouldn't dare to hire an engineer from the platform. Not because of skills, but because of what it has done to the market. Also, it's a race to the bottom.
It is like it's own career. You start off being underpaid to get a reputation, and work your way up.
Weird story: I started my career on odesk (before it was called upwork) and finished 50 or so contracts before I moved 3.5k miles to my first bay area job.
Which was across the street from the odesk office.
They don't protect employers either. We had a guy whos contract was still open and he booked 80hrs and scammed us and then closed his account. Couldn't get the money back from upwork
- You could only find jobs if you were ready to underbid everyone else.
- The disproportion between the amount of work and job-seekers was abysmal.
- The platform did nothing to protect the workers from untruthful or exploitative clients (from anecdotal evidence).
- Upwork attracts clients who can't find contractors any other way, mostly because of unrealistic compensation expectation, unreasonable requirements, or poor reputation. This leads to the average job being an underwhelming experience (to put it in generous terms).
Moreover, being on Upwork is a sign of desperation. You fear the day any of your regular clients notices and asks why are you there or just starts to doubt you.
The proposition of the service is very attractive, but I'm not sure if it brings more value than harm in practice. It's very hard to find clients nowadays, but I'm still fighting the urge to restore my account there.